Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-62978 discloses a conventional information processing apparatus. This information processing apparatus starts up an application on an operating system to perform information processing. This information processing apparatus includes display means and display control means.
When an application is started up to perform information processing, the display means displays an operation screen on which a plurality of buttons to be operated by a user are arranged. Each button is associated with each different information processing. Further, when the user has selected and pressed a specified button among these buttons, this information processing apparatus performs information processing associated with this selected button.
The display control means calculates, for the respective buttons arranged on the operation screen, the frequency of use based on the pressing carried out by the user, and allows the frequently used button to be displayed on the display means so as to be changed in shape (such as size, form, color, brightness, transmittance, or button depth, for example).
In the conventional information processing apparatus formed as described above, the frequently used button is displayed on the operation screen so as to be distinct from the other buttons by the display means and the display control means. Therefore, the user can recognize whether or not the frequency of use is high for each button, and can easily determine which of the buttons is to be selected. As a result, this information processing apparatus is capable of improving the operability of the operation screen displayed when an application is started up to perform information processing.